Leo Kesting Gallery Presents:
March 7 – 29, 2009
Opening Night Reception: Saturday, March 7 from 7:00 – 10:00 pm
812 Washington St (at the corner of Gansevoort) New York NY 10014
Brian Leo’s new exhibition, Brian Leo is Every Soldier in the World, opening March 7 at Leo Kesting Gallery, is what happens when one of New York’s most recognizable young artists mixes popular imagery, global terror and irony with a twist of Day-Glo surrealism. For Brian Leo, these new works present “a cavalcade of images exhibited en masse that show deep events of cultural significance flanked by bizarre moments of personal experience.”
In one painting entitled Commemorative Plates, mixed media on canvas, 4′×5′, 2009, a haunting image of carnage is depicted in the form of a flayed Wall Street Bull. In Fresh Flesh, mixed media on canvas, 3′×4′, 2009, viewers are invited to contemplate how “the Internet porn industry is no longer a sideshow to the mainstream but larger than major league sports and perhaps Hollywood” (Frank Rich, New York Times). While, in Cat with Dust Buster, mixed media on canvas, 4′×4′, 2009, Brian contemplates utilitarianism, domestic settings, and most importantly returns to concepts based on sex disorder, recently brought to light through mass media coverage of actor David Duchovny. “The Internet has provided a level of access (to pornography) that was previously unavailable. So many people have this problem and the Internet has driven that,” said Rob Weiss, executive director of the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles.
“What New Yorker hasn’t seen the effects of this slay the bull wall street market or felt the tension of sexual dysfunction on our streets?” asks gallerist John Leo. “All that harsh medicine needs a sweet chaser of humor, personally we can all say amen to cats masturbating with dust busters.”
Leo Kesting Gallery invites you to attend the opening night reception for Brian Leo is Every Soldier in the World on Saturday, March 7 from 7:00 to 10:00 pm. The exhibition runs until March 29.
Brian Leo has exhibited in Tokyo, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, and galleries throughout New York City. He was also noted in the July 29, 2007 issue of the NY Times and the April 2006 Brooklyn Rail Armory Review. He holds a B.F.A. from Rutgers University/ Mason Gross School of Arts.
Leo Kesting Gallery launched in 2003 and developed an aggressive campaign to introduce new figurative artists to collectors and art supporters. Leo Kesting offers the art viewing public an opportunity to see forthcoming talents in an intimate setting where undiscovered, cutting-edge artists are presented to the contemporary art scene.
Leo Kesting Gallery is located at 812 Washington Street at the corner of Gansevoort in Manhattan’s Meat Packing District. A, C, E or L train to 8th Ave and 14th Street or 1, 2, 3 train to 14th Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 11am until 7pm.
